Osama bin Laden may be dead, but US intelligence experts were worried that he would be immortalised as a virtual avatar controlled by a network of al-Qaeda jihadis in cyberspace.
A confidential white paper from 2008, released by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) this week revealed concerns among members of the US intelligence and security community about the potential use of virtual worlds by extremists and terrorists.
“Imagine that jihadist supporters create a detailed avatar of Osama bin Laden and use his many voice recordings to animate the avatar for up-close virtual reality experiences that could be used to preach, convert, recruit and propagate dogma,” suggests the formerly classified 126-page report, compiled for ODNI by governmental and non-governmental experts.